Obviously the answer is “no.” But you may not realize how many times over the answer is “no.”
Years ago, I had my heart set on becoming President of the United States of America. Today, I turn 35 years old, making me officially eligible for the office. But that dream is long dead. Time and experience have jaded me, not only toward politics but toward our entire political structure. We must change that structure, or our political climate will continue to deteriorate, with our only hope of influence a meaningless scrap of paper we shove in a ballot box every few years.
Unless your vote changes the outcome of the election, it is nothing more than an opinion poll. And your vote will not change the outcome of the election. But let’s assume that it does. Would your vote matter then?
Still, no. You aren’t voting on policy. You aren’t voting on legislation. You are voting on a person. And that person will then become one member in a larger body that ultimately decides legislation. And for the most part, legislation isn’t decided by a single vote. Just like your vote doesn’t impact an election, your representative’s vote doesn’t impact legislation. So even with hand picking a representative, your vote doesn’t matter.
We could keep going, too. Now suppose that the person you hand selected is the swing vote. Surely now your vote matters, right? Probably not. Whom did you vote for? Odds are it was a rich, old, white man. And the other person you could have picked? Likely another rich, old, white man.
Over 50% of Congress members are millionaires (compared to 1% in the population). And although this most recent Congress set record numbers in terms of diversity, it still lags far behind the population. 77% of Congress members are white (compared to 60% of the population), while 63% are men (compared to 49% of the population). The average age of Congress members? 59 years old (compared to the average age of 38 of the population). Less than 10% of Congress members were born in 1980 or later.
It doesn’t end there. Nearly a quarter attended private school (compared to 12% of the population). Almost all have a college degree (compared to 38% of the population). And one-third went on to get a law degree (compared to 0.36% of the population). Over two-thirds of Congress members come from a background of public service or politics.
That’s your “representative.” He probably doesn’t look or think a whole lot like you. And he probably isn’t that much different from the other candidates you could have picked from.
Even on ideology, most candidates fall within spitting distance of each other on a political compass. Ever wonder why despite changing parties, the product from Washington stays the same? That’s not a bug of the electoral system; it’s a feature. If a candidate strays too far from the median voter, he will lose the election. So they meet in the middle—at a much closer distance than you would think, given all the vitriol and tribalism that surrounds current political discourse.
I wish that were all. Surely your vote couldn’t get any more meaningless than the unlikelihood of a single vote deciding a candidate, whose votes on bills would not alter the outcome of legislation, and whose voting record would not significantly differ from other potential candidates.
Unfortunately, it does. No matter whom you put into office, we cannot ignore the political machinery that churns public servants into career politicians. For this most recent Congress, the average time spent in the House was 9 years, and 11 years for the Senate. Members cannot achieve that without reelection, and they cannot get reelected without financial support. When push comes to shove, their interest supersedes yours. As much as they may want to do right by their constituents, they need the party and lobbyists more. Your vote accomplishes little beyond facilitating a politician’s ability to kowtow to special interest groups in exchange for funds and support.
That’s why, ultimately, your vote doesn’t matter. Not because of the statistical improbability that the ballot you cast impacts the election but because the electoral process itself is a sham. It propagates an oligarchy, ruled by elites that—despite their similarities—pit us against each other to advance their own career. Elites who themselves depend much more on corporations and interest groups than the people who voted them in.
If elected President, I would have only one agenda item: end electoral oligarchy and replace it with a system that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people. Join me in my first year of eligibility as I explore both the shortcomings of our current political system and an alternative system that would solve them. Or mute me if you don’t want to hear about it.
Either way, it doesn’t matter.
#sortition #politics #voting #election